Book List: You put a spell on me (YA Witches)

From warts to warlocks, spells to Samhain – there are more great witchy stories out there than you can poke a wand at. My personal Top 5 witch-picks are:

The Raven Boys – Maggie Stiefvater
This brand new book is contemporary paranormal in a classically pagan way. Blue is a sensible and rather ordinary teen in a family of psychics. They say if Blue kisses her true love, he will die. But Blue has two rules: One, stay away from boys, because they’re trouble. And two, stay away from Aglionby Academy (aka Raven) boys, because they’re bastards. So what happens when she sees the ghost of a boy who is not yet dead? A Raven Boy whose quest is about to crash into her world in a very big way.

It’s humorous and imaginative, spooky and surreal. The characters are so vivid and Stiefvater’s writing so sharp you just want to eat the pages in the hope that digesting the words will make your life as extraordinary.

Back in my day…Witches were bald, toeless, and out to eliminate children, right? Roald Dahl does witches like no other, and his book The Witches is a classic that engages readers of all ages. I loved it

when I was young, and I still love it today. And the only time I won a Book Week costume parade was when I dressed as The Grand High Witch. It involved a swimming cap and a wig.

Of course the other classic Witch is C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Although personally I always preferred the witch’s origin story, in The Magician’s Nephew. Turkish delight, anyone?

It’s not a witch-list without the contemporary-come-classic Harry Potter, is it? Pages packed with witches (and wizards). Shall we dual over whether Hermione, Luna, or Professor McGonagall is the best witch?

Speaking of Professor McGonagall… surely the most iconic older witch is Granny Weatherwax? Anyone who has dabbled in (or obsessively hoarded) Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels will have a favourite set of characters. Mine has always been the witches. Pratchett’s books overflow with humour, wit, and pointed contemporary observations (translated into a fantasy setting).

The best news is, if you think Equal Rites, Wyrd Sisters, Witches Abroad, Lords and Ladies, Maskerade, and Carpe Jugulum are a touch on the adult side for your teen readers, allow me to introduce Tiffany Aching – the witch of the Chalklands, written specifically for children. She has four books to her name, beginning with The Wee Free Men.

You probably know of LJ Smith through her popular series come television show The Vampire Diaries. Well, if you’re over bit-lit please dive into her witchy series The Secret Circle (which has been re-released this year).

If you prefer to mix up your vampires and witches then I would recommend LJ Smith’s Night World series, which I like to think of as Twilight without the bad aftertaste.